Episoder
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Johnathan Bi left success in the startup world to focus on researching the deep ideas that power the world, and has recently launched his series on the Great Books of the West, starting with his lecture on Nietzsche.
What is Rousseauâs impact on the world?Johnathanâs Journey towards the Great Thinkers and their BooksThe Duality of Heroism & Rousseau as Hero WorshipperRousseauâs balanced treatments of Nietzscheâs IdeasWhy do we need Heroes?The Difference between Desire for Power and Execution of that PowerSilicon Valley Entrepreneurs and their Selfish Desire for GloryThe Hero vs. The CitizenThe Degeneration of Modern LanguagesThe Core of Nietzscheâs Interest in the Great Heroes of the PastTech Startups are Non-Egalitarian!Rome Against Judea
In this episode:Resources mentioned:
Johnathanâs Interview and Lecture Series: Great Books of the WestRousseauâs Discourse on This Question: Which Is the Virtue Most Necessary for a Hero and Which Are the Heroes Who Lacked This Virtue?Johnathanâs NewsletterSubscribe to our Substack for transcripts and updates!
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An interview with Johnny Burtka, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. He is a graduate of Hillsdale College, and his most recent book is titled âGateway to StatesmanshipâSelections from Xenophon to Churchillâ.
The Mirrors for Princes traditionObstacles as a Ladder to GreatnessThe Potency of Xenophonâs âEducation of CyrusâThe Leadership Qualities of CyrusThe Complex Enduring Power of Ciceroâs âOn DutiesâCultivating Greatness of Soul and the Magnitudo Animi of ChurchillMachiavelli as Practitioner, not Political PhilosopherWhere should an 18-year old dedicate himself to?Washingtonâs Farewell Address as a Beautiful Political Text
In this episode:Books Mentioned:
Gateway to StatesmanshipâSelections from Xenophon to Churchill by Johnny BurtkaEducation of Cyrus by XenophonOn Duties by CiceroThe Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley by Jimmy SoniWalking with Destiny by Andrew RobertsFor the episode transcript, be sure to subscribe to my Substack!
Thanks to our sponsor Intercollegiate Studies Institute! Check out their programs on supporting quality thought and intellectual life in and after your college years.
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Manglende episoder?
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An interview with Nat Friedman, former CEO of GitHub and creator of the Vesuvius Challenge, which aims to crack the riddles of the Herculaneum Papyri.
The Genesis of the Vesuvius ChallengeEarly Attempts to Open the ScrollsUsing a Particle Accelerator to Scan the Scrolls!Partnering with Daniel Gross and Brent SealesNatâs Childhood experience with Open-source CommunitiesHow to Design Prize Incentives for a Complex ContestDoing Crazy, Strange and Risky ProjectsA Possible Resurgence of Epicureanism?
In this episode:
For the episode transcript, be sure to subscribe to my Substack!This episode is sponsored by Ancient Language Institute. If youâre interested in actually reading the newly unlocked scrolls, you will need to know the languages of the ancient world. The Ancient Language Institute will help you do just that. Registration is now open (till August 10th) for their Fall term where you can take advanced classes in Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, and Old English.
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An interview with Pano Kanelos, the founding president of the University of Austin and the former President of St. Johnâs College, Annapolis.
How founding a university is like running a dinerThe flourishing of American universities in the 19th centuryHow old philosophers were men of actionThe Intellectual Foundations Program at UATXHow The Brothers Karamazov explains our current momentPursuing Greatness by finding your North StarPlutarch on self-reflectionWhy Heroes and Truth-tellers are needed when forming communitiesAnalyzing the opening scene from Shakespeareâs Julius Caesar
In this episode:
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In which we follow the lead of Plutarch and study Pompey's character and analyze what we can learn from the life of Pompey the Great, by comparing him to King Agesilaus of Sparta, whom Plutarch paired him with.
Sources and Further Reading for the Life of Pompey:
John Leach, Pompey the Great: https://amzn.to/3UxOsW8
Robin Seager, Pompey: a Political Biography: https://amzn.to/3UPpeUg
Gareth Sampson: Rome's Great Eastern War, Lucullus, Pompey and the Conquest of the East: https://amzn.to/3wrVGD1
-The Battle of Dyrrhachium: https://amzn.to/3wp4Wro
-The Battle of Pharsalus: https://amzn.to/3ULWJHk
-"Rome in Crisis" Penguin edition of Plutarch:
https://amzn.to/4b2WgGv (feat. Lives of Sertorius, Lucullus, and Cato the Younger)
-"Fall of the Roman Republic" Penguin Plutarch Volume: https://amzn.to/4a7vpYw (feat. Lives of Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar, and Cicero)
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Life of Pompey Part 3 of 3: Pompey's final rise to the heights of Roman power, his war with his friend Julius Caesar, and his final downfall.
People:
(M. Tullius) Cicero
(Titus Pomponius) Atticus
C. Julius Caesar
Cn. Pompeius Magnus (Pompey)
Julia, Caesar's Daughter
(M. Licinius) Crassus
(L. Domitius) Ahenobarbus - Optimate Stalwart (Cos. 54)
(M. Porcius) Cato "The Younger" - the Stoic
(M. Calpurnius) Bibulus - Cos. 59
P. Clodius Pulcher - Populist Thug lord
(T. Annius) Milo - Pompey's Thug lord
M. Caelius (Rufus) - Cicero's young political analyst friend
Publius Licinius Crassus - The Richest Man's Son
Cornelia - Pompey's final wife
(Q. Caecilius) Metellus (Pius) Scipio - Pompey's new Father in Law
Aulus Gabinius - Pompey's friend, exiled after Egyptian expedition
Ptolemy XII Auletes ("The Piper") - exiled king of Egypt
(C. Scribonius) Curio - Optimate turncoat, Caesar's tribune
M. Antonius (Mark Antony)
M. Claudius Marcellus - Optimate stalwart (Cos 51)
C. Claudius Marcellus - Optimate stalwart (Cos. 50, cousin of Cos. 51)
M. Favonius - "Stamp, Pompey!" Senator
Themistocles - Athenian statesman
Camillus - 4th c. BC Roman statesman
T. Labienus - Caesar's general, deserted to Pompey
(M. Junius) Brutus - Future Conspirator
Theophanes of Mytilene - the Historian
Crassianus - Caesar's centurion at Pharsalus
Cratippus of Pergamon - Philosopher at Mytilene
Ptolemy XIII - Boy king of Egypt
Potheinus - Ptolemy XIII's Eunuch
Achillas - Ptolemy XIII's General
Theodotus - Ptolemy XIII's Rhetoric Teacher
Philippus - Pompey's freedman
Places:
The Roman Forum
The Tiber River
Parthia
Carrhae (Battle of) - in Mesopotamia (Parthian Empire)
Gaul (Mod. France)
Pompey's Theater ("Temple of Venus")
Alesia (Battle of) - in Gaul
Naples (Neapolis)
Ravenna (N. Italy, "Cisalpine Gaul" then)
Rubicon River
Ariminum (Rimini)
Corfinium - Italian town in the Apennines
Brundisium - Eastern Port in Italy
Dyrrhachium (Mod. Durrës) - in Epirus (Rom. province of Macedonia)
Thessaly - large plain in central Greece
Pharsalus - town in Thessaly
TempÄ - Valley in Thessaly
Mytilene - City on island of Lesbos
Thanks to our sponsor Intercollegiate Studies Institute! www.isi.org. Check out their programs on supporting quality thought and intellectual life in and after your college years.
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Pompey becomes Romeâs greatest conqueror, and empire builder, but faces even greater trials back home in Rome.
People
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, "Pompey the Great"
Sulla Felix, the DictatorPompey
The Pirates
Posidonius the Stoic
Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus
Lucius Licinius Lucullus
Cicero, the Orator
Manilius, the Tribune
Julius Caesar
Theophanes of Mytilene
Queen Monime
Tigranes the Great of Armenia
Tigranes the Younger, Prince
Albani(ans) of Caucasus
Iberians of Caucasus
King Phraates of Parthia
The Parthians
Antiochus XIII, Seleucid King
Aretas, King of the Nabatean Arabs
Aristobulus of Judea
Hyrcanus of Judea
Aulus Gabinius
Josephus (Jewish Historian)
Marcus Licinius Crassus, Richest Man in Rome
Marcus Porcius Cato (the Younger)
Metellus Celer
Metellus Nepos
M. Calpurnius Bibulus
Publius Clodius Pulcher, Slum Lord
Milo
Julia
Domitius Ahenobarbus
Places
Sicily
Sardinia
Corsica
North Africa
Rhodes
Cilicia
Cappadocia
Galatia
Armenia
Artaxata
Mt Ararat
Sophene
Syria
Bithynia
Pontus
Caucasus
Colchis
Albania (Caucasus)
Iberia (Caucasus)
Bosphoran Kingdom (Crimea / Azov)
Damascus
Petra (Arabia)
Judea
Jordan River Valley
Jericho
Jerusalem
Campus Martius
Alban Hills / Lake / Villa
Luca
Image: The Triumph of Pompey, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, 1765. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Thanks to our sponsor Intercollegiate Studies Institute! www.isi.org. Check out their programs on supporting quality thought and intellectual life in and after your college years.
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Pompey, the Great. Part 1 of 3. Pompey's rise to become one of Rome's greatest generals - before he's even old enough to hold office. How he got the nickname of "Kid Butcher" or "The Butcher Boy".
Thanks to our Sponsor, Intercollegiate Studies Institute! www.isi.org
Key Names:
Agesilaus of Sparta
Julius Caesar
Alexander the Great
Pompeius STRABO (father)
Social War
Gaius MARIUS (populist consul)
Lucius Cornelius CINNA (populist consul)
Lucius Cornelius SULLA (optimate consul & dictator)
MITHRIDATES - King of Pontus
Gnaeus Papirius CARBO (populist consul)
Antistia (first wife)
Marcus Licinius CRASSUS
Marcus Aemilus LEPIDUS (rebel consul)
Marcus Junius BRUTUS (Father of the conspirator)
Quintus Lutatius CATULUS (optimate stalwart)
Quintus Sertorius
Quintus Caecilus METELLUS PIUS (P's fellow general in Spain)
Marcus PERPERNA (populist ally of Sertorius)
Spartacus
Marcus Terentius VARRO (the scholar)
Lucius Licinius LUCULLUS (rival general)
Quintus HORTENSIUS Hortalus (optimate stalwart)
Aulus GABINIUS (P's tribune buddy)
The Pirates
"Quirites" (the Roman citizenry)Key Places:
Rome
Picenum
Asculum
North Africa
Mutina
Spain
Lauron
Sucro River
Ostia (Rome's port)[Jeremy Giffon on Invest like the Best Podcast, ep. 336: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Vdv5i250hF6EfzOTML9RE?si=98bacff34a7244e9]
Thanks to our sponsor Intercollegiate Studies Institute! www.isi.org. Check out their programs on supporting quality thought and intellectual life in and after your college years.
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Check out Ralston College's FUNDED MA program: https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma !
...Plutarch offers some advice on how to choose your friends, and how to be a good one. Examples include Alexander the Great, Cato, Carneades, Plato, Dionysius the Tyrant, and more.
(Here depicted: the monument of Philopappus in Athens, to whom Plutarch's essay is dedicated)
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An interview with Barry Strauss, Spartacus expert, and author of The Spartacus War
In this episode:
-How Spartacus' Slave revolt almost failed in its early stages
-Overcoming short term thinking as a leader
-Spartacus' influence on modern leaders -
A method for reading that can transform your life.
W/ help from Dana Gioia, California Poet Laureate, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts 2003-2009.
Get his new book Sentences from Seneca, here!
Some Sources:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius/Letter_108
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Sallust/Bellum_Jugurthinum/3*.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Sayings_of_Spartans*/main.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Sayings_of_Spartans*/Agesilaus.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Agesilaus*.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Lysander*.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Sertorius*.html -
Why does Achilles, slaughterer of men, play the lyre? A conversation with Spencer Klavan of the Young Heretics podcast.
Check out the Cost of Glory Men's Leadership Retreat: costofglory.com/retreat !
Spencer on Twitter: @spencerklavan
In this conversation, we discuss:
-Spencer & Alex's common ground training as classicists
-How one gets into these ancient books in the first place
-The theory of "Art for Art's Sake": Why it's interesting, plausible, and wrong.
-Epic heroes singing Epic Poetry
-Great books for busy dadsAnd much, much more...
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The fall and political struggles of the great Lucullus, rival of Pompey and Caesar.
Cost of Glory Men's Retreat 2024 application open! - costofglory.com/retreat
Thanks to our sponsor Ancient Language Institute - Tutoring now available:Latin: https://ancientlanguage.com/latin-tutorials/
Ancient Greek: https://ancientlanguage.com/ancient-greek-tutorials/
Cicero's Pro Archiahttps://www.attalus.org/cicero/archias.html
People in this episode:
Mithridates, King of Pontus
Tigranes, King of Armenia
Clodius, the Brother in Law
Pompey
Clodia, the Bad Wife
Servilia, also a Bad Wife
Cato the Younger
Cicero
CaesarPlaces in this episode:
Tigranokert
Artaxata
Nisibis
Pontus
Armenia
Rome -
Lucullus drives Mithridates out of Pontus, and war escalates
In this episode:
-The power of concentration
-Nothing is more important than sleep
-Bold Barbarian Queens
-The value of bad news
-Battle of TigranocertaBook Rec - Gareth Sampson, Rome's Great Eastern War
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Lucullus, Conqueror of Armenia. Highlights from Plutarch's biography of the great foe of Pompey
Cost of Glory Men's Retreat 2024 application open! - costofglory.com/retreat
Thanks to our sponsor Ancient Language Institute - Tutoring now available:Latin: https://ancientlanguage.com/latin-tutorials/
Ancient Greek: https://ancientlanguage.com/ancient-greek-tutorials/
In this episode:
-How to get noticed early on in your career
-Seducing your way to warlord status
-Taking the time to do the math -
The vice of "dysopia" brings down even the strongest. Plutarch gives some advice on how to fortify ourselves against it.
Reach out to [email protected] for more info on the 2024 Cost of Glory Men's retreat in Rome!
Link to a translation of Plutarch's text : https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/De_vitioso_pudore*.html
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What happened to Crassus' captured soldiers? To his family? What can we learn from his successes and his world-historic failure?
ANNOUNCEMENT! Cost of Glory Men's Leadership Retreat in Rome - July 2024. Reach out to [email protected] if you're interested.
Buy the books:
-Penguin edition of Plutarch including Life of Crassus
-Sallust's war with Catiline
-Tom Holland's Rubicon
-Barry Strauss' book on Spartacus
-Edward Watts's Mortal Republic
-Gareth Sampson, "The Defeat of Rome" on Parthian Expedition
-Peter Stothard, The First TycoonSee also Gruen, Last Generation of the Roman Republic; Ward, Crassus and the Late Roman Republic; Rawson, Crassorum Funera (in journal Latomus).
Pictured: Roman Soldier next to a Han noble, statue group in Liqian, China. Photo: Natalie Behring
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Crassus' famous campaign against the Parthians - what motivated it? What happened at Carrhae? What can we learn from it?
Thanks to our Sponsor!
Ancient Language Institute:
https://ancientlanguage.comKey Figures
Marcus Licinius Crassus - The Protagonist
Gaius Pompeius Magnus - Pompey, the Rival
Lucius Licinius Crassus - the Orator
Publius Licinius Crassus - Crassus' father
Publius Licinius Crassus - Crassus' Son
Publius Clodius Pulcher - The Playboy Mobster
Titus Annius Milo - Anti-Mobster
Marcus Tullius Cicero - The Mentor
Gaius Julius Caesar - The Triumvir
Marcus Porcius Cato - The Nemesis
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus - The Challenger
Ptolemy XII "Auletes" - The Piper King
Aulus Gabinius - Pompey's Crony in Syria
Trebonius - Willing Tribune
Ateius (Capito) - Unwilling Tribune
Gaius Cassius Longinus - The Assassin
Octavius - The Junior Officer
Orodes II - King of Parthia
Mithradates IV - Parthian Usurper
Surena - the Parthian Commander at CarrhaeKey Places
Rome
Ravenna - City in Northern Italy (cisalpine Gaul)
Luca - City in Northern Italy (Etruria/Cisalpine Gaul)
Curia - The Senate house
Syria - Roman Province
Mesopotamia
Iraq
Seleucia
Babylon
Ctesiphon
Carrhae
Euphrates RiverItalian quote at the beginning: Dante, Purgatorio XX
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Marcus Licinius Crassus, Richest Man in Rome. The plot thickens in the contest with Pompey, and Crassus takes on new allies: Catiline and Julius Caesar.
In this episode:
-How to defuse the resentment of opponents you've beaten
-The power of debt at Rome
-Fighting for the hardest prizes, but playing it like a game
-Cicero's mortgage and homeowner headachesThanks to Sponsors:
Ancient Language Institute:
https://ancientlanguage.com--
Copythat, learn copywriting from the classics:
https://copythat.com/
For a discount (and to let them know I sent you), use this code: glory -
The story of Marcus Licinius Crassus, Richest man in Rome.
In this episode:
-The Real Spartacus
-How to make a fortune, ancient style
-Why Crassus was a better spender than modern billionairesThanks to our Sponsor!
Copythat, learn copywriting from the classics:
https://copythat.com/
For a discount (and to let them know I sent you), use this code: glorySome Sources:
Barry Strauss, The Spartacus War
Plutarch, Life of Crassus - Vis mere
